american history museum

Ben and I love taking advantage of the free and incredible museums in DC, so this past Saturday we headed to the newly opened American History Museum (which was closed for a few years for renovations). A lot of the exhibits were the same as before (First Ladies Dresses, The Flag), but others were new.

I loved exhibit on transportation. It had really old buggies, a Ford Model T (in black, the only color it came in because black paint dried the fastest), a Roadster, and lots of other vintage cars. It was really amazing to see the changes in style over the years and also see old models that you only see in movies.

There was also a fabulous exhibit on America in war. It had great artifacts (Washington's dishes from when he was in battle) and really great displays. It reminded me a lot of the Holocaust Museum (it was also incredibly instructive), but not nearly as depressing.

The other fun part about this museum, is that it had random artifacts from American history and Pop Culture. Here is Ben with some of his favorites:

Remnants from the original Star Spangled Banner

Oscar the Grouch (who was originally created orange instead of green)
C3PO. I have to admit this was pretty awesome.

Ben and I also popped into the Natural History Museum to see an exhibit with a real Giant Squid. It was hard to take a picture of the squid in formaldehyde, so instead here is Ben with the jaws of a Megal0don (giant shark).